The present invention pertains generally to equipment or devices utilized for the separation of mineral or metallic particles by the flotation process.
The scarcity of high grade ore has placed greater emphasis on the recovering of small particles, termed fines, during processing. In certain instances in the past, such efforts were not economically justified. Presently tailings from past and present mineral processing operations are believed to be a valuable resource assuming such tailings can be economically processed.
In the prior art are flotation systems wherein a slurry flow is fed into the flotation unit above an injected airflow. Briefly, the mineral particles adhere to airflow bubbles and result in a concentrate forming at the flotation units upper surface. To the extent known, such systems rely entirely on the effect of differential gravity in such a flotation process. The flotation process is widely used for processing material containing fine particles which, in many instances, are not recovered.
Further background information is in Chapter 35 "Fine Particle Flotation" in Vol. 1 of a publication entitled Fine Particles Processing by P. Somasundaran and E & MJ Second Operating Handbook of Mineral Processing by L. White.